Skipjack or Springer or what????

Well..... my memory takes me back about 40 years?? As a young man I bought a small boat with a "cabin" in which my family, Honey, boet and sus could just fit. At the time we lived in Uitenhage. Some weekends we would take my Rover V8 hook the boat and drive to the river. The river being, I think, the Kabeljous river. It is between Uitenhage and Jefferies bay, closer Jeffries bay (after the long down hill). On the right hand side there use to be a hotel where we could put the boat into the water.
During the day we would cruise the river up and down or just anchor at one place.
But FUN starts at night when a strong light was shone on the water and the fish jumped out the water and sometimes onto, or into, the boat. Sussie, the youngest, were mostly fast asleep by then and often wake in the morning with one of these fish next to her. Almost all off the fish were returned to the river. Sometimes some were kept which oom Gallie smoked for us in his home made smoker drum. Delicious!!!

Till today I really know what type of fish they were! Can they also be caught with rod and line? as I think with all the new regulations etc it will not be possible to have fun like that anymore??

Mullet?

I would guess that it was mullet jumping into the boat.

Was most likely the gamtoos and mullet..And they are easy to catch and nice pan fried or in a smoker, under-rated IMO..

You can chum them up and cast net them, with license or catch them on hook and line, on a recreational license, 50 is your bag limit if I can recall! So catch away..just return the little ones, and return one or 2 "finger sizers" back with a hook in them for something bigger.

Tiny hooks, no sinker, thin line and a bass rod or similar rod. Get them feeding on little pieces of white bread mushed with sardine..and then cast/flick your tiny hook with a little bead of bread on the hook tip or a tiny sliver of sardine flesh and skin, hooked twice through, and then retrieve it slowly as you can towards you..The motion gets their attention and they can't resist a little white or shiny thing moving away from them, but it must be able to fit in their small mouths. They fight like little demons! Don't eat them from polluted waters.

Yes, come to think of it, it is the Gamtoos! These fishes were mostly in excess of 20 cm. How big does a mullet grow?
Is the old hotel and slipway still there?

tarentaal10 wrote:

Yes, come to think of it, it is the Gamtoos! These fishes were mostly in excess of 20 cm. How big does a mullet grow?
Is the old hotel and slipway still there?

Click to expand...

Mullet can easily reach 20cm +.

The Ferry Hotel and slipway is still there.

Ja....jy bring nou memories terug...dis ou gamtoos......nou of jy nou hoog op in gourits of gamtoos of sondags gaan.....jou "springer"harders is daar......like die sout en varswater wat meng...brak.....kyk van hulle "jag"ken ek goed......skerp lig.....crash helmet op jou kop....donkermaan spring....ry dan spring hulle in boot...hy kneus jou ribbes as hy vasspring teen jou.....jy kon hul ook daai tyd met net gooi...hulle raas soos trop beeste in die water....en in winter is hy spek vet.....soos galjoen....op kole...in pan....in rooker......die allerbeste......op gamtoos het ons hulle baie by rooiwalle en witsand en verder op gevang....._seal1_

Jaaaa!..... Thanks a stack for the picture of the Hotel. I am happy to see it still in operation after sooooo... many years! I plan a weekend thateway in the near future. Thanks for the info on how to catch the mullet, will try it when I go there for a weekend, pity I have no boat now to entertain the "springers" once more. Maybe a good thing if one of them connect with me now I might need a hip replacement, hehehe......
Would one find the same on the Gourits???